Chapter 160: Internal Strife and Breakthrough

Chapter 160: Chapter 160: Internal Strife and Breakthrough

For someone like Orochimaru, who didn’t even care all that much about becoming Hokage, the only reason he had joined the Akatsuki was because he coveted the Rinnegan possessed by the organization’s leader, Pain.

However, cruel reality had forced Orochimaru to understand that, with his current strength, he simply didn’t have the ability to seize Pain’s Rinnegan—the legendary eyes known as the "Eyes of the Sage."

And so, he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and turn his attention toward the Sharingan.

When he first heard that a member of Konoha’s Uchiha Clan had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, Orochimaru had practically been beside himself with joy.

As far as he was concerned, that pair of Mangekyō Sharingan was already as good as his.

But as his investigation continued, he was shocked to discover that Uchiha Shinichi, the one who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, possessed extraordinarily formidable combat strength. Practically single-handedly, Shinichi had thrown all of Konoha into chaos!

That information only made Orochimaru desire the Mangekyō Sharingan even more.

At the same time, however, it also made him realize that taking those eyes would be anything but easy.

For some time now, Orochimaru had been searching for an opportunity to make his move. But because the Akatsuki operated in two-man teams, and he wasn’t partnered with Uchiha Shinichi, he had never managed to find the right opening.

Which was precisely why the opportunity before him now was simply too tempting to resist!

Hyuga Kagami didn’t even need to turn around to know just how conflicted and restless Orochimaru must be feeling behind him.

After all, no one understood Orochimaru’s craving for the Mangekyō Sharingan better than he did.

And that was precisely the key to Kagami’s escape.

As long as Orochimaru made a move against Uchiha Shinichi, the five Akatsuki members present would immediately fall into division and chaos.

When that happened, Kagami could find an opening and escape.

Glancing at Uchiha Shinichi, who looked almost eager to fight him, Kagami cursed inwardly as he fled,

"Idiot. Don’t actually let him dig your eyes out!"

With one fleeing and the other pursuing, Kagami and Orochimaru quickly closed in on Uchiha Shinichi.

At that moment, Kagami rapidly formed a series of hand seals and shouted,

"Water Style: Water Clone Technique!"

In the blink of an eye, Kagami split into two.

The two figures abruptly changed direction, veering away from Uchiha Shinichi and fleeing separately toward opposite sides.

"Hm?"

Uchiha Shinichi frowned slightly.

Even with the visual prowess of his eyes, he had actually failed to distinguish at a glance which one was Kagami’s real body and which one was the Water Clone.

The other Akatsuki members nearby—Jūzō Biwa, Kakuzu, and Sasori—were also secretly startled.

They, too, had failed to immediately determine which one was the real body and which one was the Water Clone.

Orochimaru, however, who had been pursuing Kagami from directly behind, showed no reaction whatsoever.

Because at that moment...

all of his attention was fixed on Uchiha Shinichi.

At this point, Orochimaru was less than seven or eight meters away from Uchiha Shinichi.

For a ninja of his caliber, that distance was practically within arm’s reach.

With his Sharingan activated, Uchiha Shinichi also noticed that Orochimaru hadn’t continued pursuing Kagami after he changed direction.

Instead, Orochimaru was charging straight toward him.

Shinichi immediately shouted,

"What are you trying to—"

Before he could even finish speaking, Orochimaru thrust out his right hand.

His entire body shot forward like a cannonball, his fingers reaching directly for Uchiha Shinichi’s Sharingan!

Yet Shinichi didn’t panic as Orochimaru had expected.

In an instant, he completed a series of hand seals, opened his mouth, and unleashed a massive torrent of flames straight at Orochimaru!

Whoosh—!

The powerful Fire Style technique bathed the entire forest in crimson light!

"I’ll be taking those eyes!"

But Orochimaru didn’t dodge.

He simply took Uchiha Shinichi’s Fire Release head-on with his own body!

Even as his flesh began to melt away beneath the scorching flames, he didn’t care in the slightest.

He forced his way through the inferno and appeared directly in front of Uchiha Shinichi, his right hand already reaching him—

His fingertips even touched Shinichi’s eyeball!

Poof—!

At the exact instant Orochimaru was about to rip out the eye, Uchiha Shinichi’s body suddenly vanished into a cloud of white smoke.

Orochimaru froze in place.

"A Shadow Clone!?"

From the moment the thought of stealing Shinichi’s eyes had entered his mind, Orochimaru had been watching him closely.

He was absolutely certain that Uchiha Shinichi had never had the time to form the hand seals necessary to create a Shadow Clone.

Which meant there was only one possibility.

The Uchiha Shinichi standing before him had been a Shadow Clone from the very beginning!

The first to react was Uchiha Shinichi’s partner, Jūzō Biwa.

Being the closest, he swung Kubikiribocho at Orochimaru while roaring,

"Orochimaru! You dare betray the organization!?"

Kakuzu glanced at Orochimaru and Jūzō Biwa, then looked toward Kagami, who still hadn’t gotten very far.

"You can settle your own problems. I’m going after that guy."

With that, Kakuzu and his four masked monsters randomly chose one of the two Kagamis and gave chase.

Sasori stared deeply at Orochimaru for a moment but said nothing. Controlling his Ice Style human puppet, he pursued the other Kagami.

Since they couldn’t distinguish which one was the real body and which one was the Water Clone, Kakuzu and Sasori had no choice but to split up and pursue them separately.

As he broke through the encirclement, Kagami glanced back over his shoulder.

The corner of his mouth curled upward.

Uchiha Shinichi clearly hadn’t forgotten Kagami’s previous warning. He had remained wary of every member of the Akatsuki from the very beginning.

So while Orochimaru’s attack might have seemed sudden...

there had never been anything sudden about it at all.

And Kagami’s plan to provoke internal conflict within the Akatsuki had worked even better than expected.

What had originally been a one-versus-five situation...

had now become one-versus-one.

Kagami glanced once more at Sasori, who was relentlessly pursuing him from behind, and began considering his next move.

At present, less than a tenth of his chakra remained.

Worse still, a massive amount of natural energy had accumulated inside his body, making it impossible for him to continue drawing upon the Dragon Vein’s chakra.

If he did, his body would begin undergoing irreversible petrification.

Asking him to fight another full battle against Sasori in his current condition was simply asking too much.

And Sasori’s strength was by no means inferior to Kakuzu’s.

With an Ice Release human puppet in his possession, Sasori could even be called the natural counter to Kagami’s Kawa persona.

Until Kagami himself comprehended Ice Release, he had absolutely no chance of defeating Sasori in a direct confrontation.

From behind, Sasori called out with a mocking expression,

"You can’t escape!"

Kagami ignored him and continued racing forward at full speed.

At that moment, under Sasori’s control, the Ice Release human puppet suddenly unleashed an Ice Style technique.

In an instant, a smooth, crystal-clear track of ice formed across the ground.

And the ice track rapidly extended toward Kagami, pursuing him as though it possessed a mind of its own!

Sasori and the Ice Release human puppet immediately began gliding along the frozen track at incredible speed.

They were moving far faster than Kagami could possibly run on two legs.

If their respective speeds remained unchanged, then Sasori catching up to Kagami was only a matter of time.

Kagami’s eyes widened in astonishment.

"Ice Release can be used like this!?"